The Army Service Corps (ASC) is the oldest and the largest administrative service in the Indian Army. From a modest beginning during the days of the East India Company, it has steadily extended the scope of its activities until now when it operates on land, water and air.

The Army Service Corps Centre and College came into existence at Bangalore on 01 May 1999 by the amalgamation of three premier institutions of the Indian Army viz ASC School (formerly located at Barely), Army School of Mechanical Transport and ASC Centre (South).

The Army Sustainment Command, or ASC, is the logistics arm of the Army Materiel Command that provides our warfighters with everything they need to do their job. The Army Service Corps (ASC) is entrusted with the responsibility of providing rations to the Indian Armed Forces. The items of rations are divided into two categories namely dry and fresh.

Every month approx 200 about to retire army officers come to ASC Center for completing their documentation process and to complete pension formalities. During this one month tenure they are being exposed to various opportunities which they can implement post retirement which include both on the micro entrepreneurship and job opportunity level.

DIYguru, a Delhi based E-Mobility upskilling platform and Learning Links Foundation join hands together for the cause of upskilling Army officers in the Electric Vehicle domain. Since army officers receive their retirement deposit money at this stage and come from different state rural landscape and cities of India, This is the best time for them to explore different entrepreneurship avenues in growing EV market post retirement which includes opening up of service, repair, maintenance workshop, opening up EV Dealership, Setting up of Charging stations and operating EV transport network in opex model. 

The army officers attending the training conducted by DIYguru are majorly from MT trade, the role they have performed in the past is majorly as Driver of Army transport fleet. Because of this the Automotive Technician acumen is already there with the officers. Not only this, the Bank sector gives loan for setting up their businesses at a very discounted rate and the process is very quick for loan disbursement as a result of which the use case of the training becomes relevant.

The training which DIYguru is offering to the Army veterans include one month of rigorous training with focus on EV service, repair & maintenance, EV retrofitting, setting up of EV charging stations. They are undergoing both theoretical and practical training with completion of Hands on training in the project based learning approach and converting an old Maruti Suzuki ICE car into an EV Car with the help of retro fitment KIT.

EVs are gaining attention across the globe as they help reduce emissions and depletion of natural resources, with the advent of Electric Vehicle in India and as per the report of IBEF. the Indian EV market is also evolving fast as close to 0.32 million vehicles were sold in 2021, up 168% YoY. The India electric vehicle market size was valued at USD 220.1 million in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 94.4% from 2021 to 2030. The attractive incentives being offered by the Indian government on the production and purchase of electric vehicles to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles are anticipated to drive the growth of the market over the forecast period.